Does solving a math problem give you a headache? Do you feel nervous when you sit a math exam? For most students, math can be tough but scientists have proved that math problems can actually trigger physical pain.

Scientists came to his conclusion with an in-depth experiment, which was published in the Public Library of Science One journal. They began by finding out how much participants fear math. Those involved were asked a series of questions such as how they feel when they receive a math textbook or when they walk into a math lesson.

Based on their answers, participants were divided into groups. One group was made up of people  who  were particularly afraid  of  math  and participants  in  the other  group were  more comfortable with the subject.

Both groups were then given either math tasks or word tasks. When a math task was going to come next, a yellow circle would appear but when a word task was soon to come, a blue square would be shown.

Using a brain-scan machine, scientists noticed that whenever people from Group One saw a yellow circle, their brain would respond in a way similar to when their body is feeling pain. It was like the pain they would fee, for example, if they burnt their hand on a hot stove. But they reacted less strongly when they knew that they would be faced with a word task.

However, scientists saw no strong brain response from people in the second group.

Math can be difficult, and for those with high levels of mathematics-anxiety (HMA), math is associated with tension, apprehension and fear. “When you are really thinking about the math problems, your mind is racing and you are worrying about all the things that could go wrong,” explained Ian Lyons from University of Chicago, US, leader of the study. “The higher a person’s anxiety of a maths task, the more he activated brain regions associated with threat detection, and the experience of pain.”

More interestingly, the brain activity disappeared when participants actually started dealing with the math tasks. “This means that it’s not that math itself hurts; rather,  the anticipation of math is painful,” Lyons said.

Based on the study, scientists suggested that things could be done to help students worry less and move past their fear of math, which might mean they perform better in tests.

63. In the first stage, scientists ask participants some questions to  _.

A. see whether math hurts     B. find out how much they fear math

C. observe how their brain response     D. test their endurance of pain

64. The underlined word “the anicipation of math” is closest in meaning to     .

A. the attempt of learning math             B. the motivation to work out math problem

C. the effort to understand math             D. the act of thinking about math

65. Which is the best title for the passage?  

A. How to overcome math fear.              B. Physical pain affects math performance.

C. Math pain in your brain.                  D. Unknown truth about pain.

66. What can be concluded from the experiment?

A. The anticipation of math has no relation to students’ confidence in math.

B. Moderate mathematic anxiety promotes students’ academic performance.

C. Effective solutions have been worked out to lower students’ anxiety of math.

D. Physical pain caused by HMA disappears in the process of doing math problem.

 (安徽省马鞍山二中2009届高三第四次模拟考试E篇)

John Dalton was born in England in 1766，ten years before the U．S．Declaration of Independence was signed．His family lived in a small cottage．As a small child，John worked in the fields with his brother，and helped his father in a shop where they wove cloth. Most poor boys at that time received no education，but John was lucky to attend a nearby school In 1766，when only about one out of every 200 people could read．

    John was a good student and loved learning．His teachers encouraged him to study many things when he was twelve. He opened his first school in a nearby town，but there was little money．He had to close his schoo1．

    Three years later，he joined his older brother and a friend in running a school. John studied the weather and nature around him. He collected butterflies，snails and mites. He discovered he was colorblind and studied that,too．

    In 1793，John began to think about different elements and their composition. He had a theory that each element is made up of identical(完全相同的) atoms and that elements are different because each is made of different atoms．

    In 1808，Dalton published a book，which listed the atomic weights of many known elements．These formed the basis for the modern periodic table(元素周期表)．Not everyone accepted Dalton’ theory of atomic structure at the time．However，he had to defend it with more research．

    When John Dalton died in 1844，he was buried with honors in England．More 400,000 people viewed his body as it lay in state．As his final experiment，he asked that an autopsy(验尸)be performed to learn the cause of his color-blindness：This was done，and proved the color-blindness was caused not by a problem with his eyes，but with the way his brain worked．Even in death, he helped expand scientific knowledge．

    Today．scientists everywhere accept Dalton’s theory of atomic structure．A simple country boy showed the world a new way of thinking about the universe and how it is made．

73．John Dalton’s first school had to be closed mainly because___________．

A．he was color-blind                  

B．his family lived in a small cottage

C．he had hardly enough money to run I  

D．he lacked experience

74．Which of the following descriptions about John Dalton is wrong?

    A．John found a cure for color-blindness

    B．As a student，John was outstanding

    C．John used to help with farm work

    D．In his book，presentation of the atomic weight of many known elements was of great importance.

75．From the passage we may conclude that______．

    A．John Dalton’s only contribution to science was his achievement in chemistry

    B．as a great educator，John Dalton established the basis for education in England

    C．John Dalton’s book about the elements enjoyed great popularity then

    D．John Dalton devoted his entire life to science

　　Last week I was watching the evening news on television. The news was about a prize for some scientific discovery. I forgot what it was. The announcer, his name was Ralph Story, said something that caught my attention. “All great discoveries,” he said, “are made by people between the ages of twenty-four and thirty.” Being a little over thirty myself I wanted to disagree with him. Nobody wants to think that he is past the age of making any discovery. The next day I happened to be in the public library and spent several hours looking up the ages of famous people and their discoveries. Ralph was right.

　　First I looked at some of the scientific discoveries. One of the earliest discoveries, the famous experiment that proved that bodies of different weights fall at the same speed, was made by Galileo when he was twenty-six. Madame Curie started her research that led to a Nobel Prize when she was twenty-eight. Einstein was twenty-six when he published his world-changing theory of relativity. Well, enough of that. Yet I wondered if those “best years” were true in other fields.

　　Then how about the field of politics? Surely it took the wisdom of age to make a good leader. Perhaps it does, but look when these people started their careers. Winston Churchill was elected to the House of Commons at the age of twenty-six. Abraham Lincoln gave up the life of a country lawyer and was elected to the government at what age? Twenty-six!

　　But why don't best years come after thirty? After thirty, I guess, most people do not want to take risks or try new ways. Then I thought of people like Shakespeare and Picasso. The former was writing wonderful works at the ripe age of fifty, while the latter was still trying new ways of painting when he was ninety! Perhaps there is still hope for me.

(1) What did the writer do to prove Ralph was wrong?

[　　]

A．He compared scientific discoveries by young people.

B．He went to the bookstore to buy a lot of books.

C．He searched for useful information in books.

D．He looked at some discoveries by old people.

(2) After his research, the writer ________.

[　　]

A．believed what Ralph said and became uneasy

B．argued more forcefully with the TV announcer

C．was sure that he was right to disagree with Ralph

D．doubted more strongly about Ralph's words

(3) How did the writer most probably feel in the end?

[　　]

(4) What can we draw from the passage?

[　　]

A．Some old people have also made scientific discoveries.

B．People can not make useful discoveries when old.

C．People at twenty-five or thirty are creative.

D．People can be creative at all ages but young people are better.

　　Last week I was watching the evening news on television. The news was about a prize for some scientific discovery. I forgot what it was. The announcer, his name was Ralph Story, said something that caught my attention. “All great discoveries,” he said, “are made by people between the ages of twenty-four and thirty.” Being a little over thirty myself I wanted to disagree with him. Nobody wants to think that he is past the age of making any discovery. The next day I happened to be in the public library and spent several hours looking up the ages of famous people and their discoveries. Ralph was right.

　　First I looked at some of the scientific discoveries. One of the earliest discoveries, the famous experiment that proved that bodies of different weights fall at the same speed, was made by Galileo when he was twenty-six. Madame Curie started her research that led to a Nobel Prize when she was twenty-eight. Einstein was twenty-six when he published his world-changing theory of relativity. Well, enough of that. Yet I wondered if those “best years” were true in other fields.

　　Then how about the field of politics? Surely it took the wisdom of age to make a good leader. Perhaps it does, but look when these people started their careers. Winston Churchill was elected to the House of Commons at the age of twenty-six. Abraham Lincoln gave up the life of a country lawyer and was elected to the government at what age? Twenty-six!

　　But why don't best years come after thirty? After thirty, I guess, most people do not want to take risks or try new ways. Then I thought of people like Shakespeare and Picasso. The former was writing wonderful works at the ripe age of fifty, while the latter was still trying new ways of painting when he was ninety! Perhaps there is still hope for me.

(1) What did the writer do to prove Ralph was wrong?

[　　]

A．He compared scientific discoveries by young people.

B．He went to the bookstore to buy a lot of books.

C．He searched for useful information in books.

D．He looked at some discoveries by old people.

(2) After his research, the writer ________.

[　　]

A．believed what Ralph said and became uneasy

B．argued more forcefully with the TV announcer

C．was sure that he was right to disagree with Ralph

D．doubted more strongly about Ralph's words

(3) How did the writer most probably feel in the end?

[　　]

(4) What can we draw from the passage?

[　　]

A．Some old people have also made scientific discoveries.

B．People can not make useful discoveries when old.

C．People at twenty-five or thirty are creative.

D．People can be creative at all ages but young people are better.

阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C和D项中，选出最佳选项。

A

Imagine landing in a foreign country where you cannot speak the language, understand the culture and don’t know anybody. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a friend who could help you out?

John Smith, an English explorer who landed in America in 1607, found the best friend ever. She was a Native American named Pocahontas (1595-1617). And she did more than teach Smith the language: she saved his life, twice.

Smith was captured by members of Pocahontas’s tribe (部落) and was going to be killed. But for some reason, the Chief’s daughter, Pocahontas, felt sorry for Smith (who was probably the first white man she had ever seen) and threw her body over his to protect him. Smith returned safely to the small village he was living in.

During the winter the English settlers did not know how to get food from nature. Pocahontas often brought food for Smith and his friends.

A year later Pocahontas’s father tried to kill Smith again because the Native Americans were very scared the English would try to take over their land. Pocahontas warned him and he was able to escape.

Later she became a Christian and eventually married an Englishman named John Rolfe.

She spent the last year of her life in London.

Pocahontas has become an American legend (传奇). Her life story has been re-created in many books and films, including Disney’s 1995 film, Pocahontas.

One of the reasons she is so popular is that many Europeans look at Pocahontas as an excellent example of how a minority can adjust into the majority. Pocahontas is also respected because of her selfless love. She proved that people can be kind and loving even to people of a different race or culture. John Smith was very different from Pocahontas but she could see he was a good man and that was all that mattered. No race or country owns goodness, love and loyalty.

1.What difficulties might early European settlers meet in America EXCEPT ______?

A. the fierce conflict with Native Americans

B. bad-tempered natives who enjoyed killing

C. unfamiliarity with a foreign land

D. lack of food in winter

2.Pocahontas saved John Smith twice because ______.

A. he was the first white man she had ever seen in her life

B. she wanted to become a Christian and marry an Englishman

C. she believed in general kindness even to people of a different race

D. she was on the settlers’ side and against her cruel father

3.Which is NOT an element to make Pocahontas a legend?

A. Her tribal background and her marriage to a white settler.

B. Her selfless help to people regarded as enemy of her tribe.

C. Her complicated life story different from common people’s.

D. The recreation of her life story in the 1995 Disney film.

4.According to the text, Europeans think Pocahontas _____.

A. was brave to break away from her own tribe

B. set a good example for other natives to accept the white settlers

C. was a selfless Christian who can love her enemy

D. was open to a more advanced culture

5.What can we infer from the passage?

A. The battles between early settlers and Native Americans resulted from their               fighting for land.

B. The Europeans think the early settlers should have learned to adjust to the local cultures.

C. The creation of America is based on the settlers’ victory over the Native  Americans.

D. People from different cultures can never really get along well with each other.

B

Chinese students aren’t the only ones who have a sleep loss problem. In Australia, teenagers are also missing out on, on average, one hour’s sleep every night during the school week.

Organized activities and homework push bedtimes later, the first large-scale Australian study of children’s sleeping habits has revealed (显示). Their sleep deprivation (剥夺) is enough to cause “serious drop-offs in school performance, attention and memory”, and governments should consider later or flexible school start times, said the study’s leader, Tim Olds.

 His survey, of more than 4,000 children aged 9 to 18, found those who slept least did not watch more television but spent their time socializing (相处) with family or friends or listening to music.

“Almost all children get up at 7 or 7:15 — they have to get to school on time,” said Olds. He favors a later start over an earlier finish because he believes organized sports and activities would still consume the latter end of the day.

Olds’research also establishes lack of sleep as a cause of weight gain in children, and a possible source of future problems with depression, anxiety and increased susceptibility (易感性) to illness.

It was already known that overweight children sleep less, but Professor Olds found sleep duration (时长) was strongly linked to weight across the full range of body sizes. The thinnest children sleep 20 minutes more than the obese. This showed being overweight had no specific effect on sleep patterns, and it was more likely that shorter sleep times stimulate (刺激) appetite and make kids hungry.

The US National Sleep Foundation says teenagers aged 13 to 18 need eight to nine hours’ sleep a night. Younger school-aged kids need 9 to 11 hours.

On that basis, Professor Olds said, half of Australian children are under-sleeping on weekdays and a quarter on weekends.

6. The Australian students surveyed don’t sleep enough because they spend more time on the following EXCEPT _____.

A. organized activities and homework

B. communication with friends and family

C. watching television programs

D. enjoying music 

7. What effects does lack of sleep directly have on the students according to the survey?

A. They become overweight but begin to eat less than before.

B. They feel more depressed and anxious about their school work.

C. They are more likely to be affected with illness in the future.

D. They pay less attention in class and their memory declines.

8. Which of the following suggestions did Mr. Olds raise?

A. The students should go to bed earlier to have longer sleeping time.

B. The students should participate less in organized activities.

C. The school should put off the start time in the morning.

D. The school should finish earlier in the afternoon.

9. What does "obese" in the sixth paragraph mean?

A. average      B. fat     C. sleepless   D. overeating

10. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A. Australian students usually take part in activities in the afternoon.

B. More students are short of sleep on weekends than on weekdays.

C. Being overweight has an effect on the length of the sleeping time.

D. The survey suggests that teenagers need 8-9 hours’ sleep a night.

C

By day he is just a normal cat but when the lights go out, he glows (发光) in the dark.

Scientists have genetically modified (更改) a cat as part of an experiment that could lead to treatments for diseases.

Named Mr. Green Genes, he looks like a six-month-old cat but, under ultraviolet (紫外线的) light, his eyes, gums (牙龈) and tongue glow green. That is the result of a genetic experiment at the Audubon Center for Research of Endangered Species in New Orleans, US.

Mr. Green Genes is the first fluorescent (荧光的) cat in the US and probably the world, said Betsy Dresser, the center's director.

The researchers made him so they could learn whether a gene could be introduced harmlessly into a cat's genetic sequence (次序).

If so, it would be the first step in a process that could lead to the development of ways to treat diseases via gene therapy (治疗).

The gene, which was added to Mr. Green Genes' DNA, has no effect on his health, Ms Dresser said.

Cats are ideal for this project because their genetic makeup is similar to that of humans, said Dr Martha Gomez, a scientist at the center.

To show that the gene went where it was supposed to go, the researchers settled on one that would glow.

The gene "is just a marker"，said Leslie Lyons, an assistant professor at the University of California, Davis. Lyons is familiar with the center's work.

 "The glowing part is the fun part," she said.

 Glowing creatures made international news earlier this month when the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to three scientists who had discovered the gene through their work with jellyfish (水母).

11.Which of the following might be the best title for the passage?

A. A Glowing Cat                  B. Mr. Green Genes

C. One Cat’s Life                  D. An experiment on cats

12. What can we conclude from the passage?

A. Fortunately, scientists have found ways to treat diseases via gene therapy.

B. Scientists think cats’ genetic makeup is the same as that of human beings.

C. Three scientists who had discovered the gene were given Nobel Prize in  Physics.

D. Scientists have managed to introduce a gene into a cat’s genetic sequence.               

13. What does “settled on” most probably mean in Paragraph 9?

A. chose         B. killed        C. took          D. raised

14. From the passage we can see that ____.

A. Mr. Green Genes was made by researchers to treat diseases

B. the cat named Mr. Green Genes can glow when it is dark

C. Mr. Green Genes is the first fluorescent cat in the world

D. Mr. Green Genes is a cat of seven months old up to now

15. Which of the following is WRONG according to the text?

A. The gene added to Mr. Green Genes’ DNA doesn’t affect its health at all.

B. The scientists came up with the idea of the glowing genes totally for fun.

C. Earlier this month glowing creatures became news all through the world.

D. Scientists had discovered the gene from the jellyfish they worked with.